Matt Anderson/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- A House committee on Friday took a major step in its investigation into whether Big Tech companies are stifling competition.

The bipartisan probe includes letters to four major tech companies sent Friday asking for extensive internal documents, including communications about rivals from Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Apple's Tim Cook and Alphabet's Larry Page.

“The focus of the investigation is to examine competition problems,” the letters, obtained by ABC News, read in part.

Rep. David Cicilline, the Democratic chair of the House Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee, said the lawmakers the requested documents from Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon included financial materials submitted to the Justice Department's Antitrust Division.

“We made it clear when we launched this bipartisan investigation that we plan to get all the facts we need to diagnose the problems in the digital marketplace. Today’s document requests are an important milestone in this investigation as we work to obtain the information that our Members need to make this determination,” Cicilline said in a statement. “We expect stakeholders to use this opportunity to provide information to the Committee to ensure that the Internet is an engine for opportunity for everyone, not just a select few gatekeepers.”

In one example, the lawmakers want Google to turn over documents about its advertising rules and its acquisition of YouTube.

“The Judiciary Committee is investigating the relationship between big tech and market competition,” said Ranking Member Doug Collins, R-Ga. “We are continuing to hold hearings and roundtables, but we need more information. This information is key in helping determine whether anticompetitive behavior is occurring, whether our antitrust enforcement agencies should investigate specific issues and whether or not our antitrust laws need improvement to better promote competition in the digital markets.”

Earlier this month, attorneys general from 48 states, Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico announced they were investigating Google and other tech companies.

Liderina/iStock(NEW YORK) -- Google Photos has added a new memories feature that's like a personalized social media highlight reel to bring your favorite photos back to the top of your feed and your mind.

The team behind the Google photo library and sharing app announced Thursday that the new feature will use machine learning to curate what appears in Memories.

"You’ll see photos and videos from previous years at the top of your gallery in a new feature we’re calling Memories. While you might recognize this stories format from social media, these memories are your personal media, privately presented to you so you can sit back and enjoy some of your best moments," Shimrit Ben-Yair, the director of Google Photos, said in a post about the announcement.

The layout shows circular thumbnail bubbles at the top of the screen, which will feel familiar to people who use Instagram stories. Users can tap to see a full screen carousel highlight of the memories along with the date and location from those featured photos.

Instead of parsing through a photo stream to find the best quality picture, Google Photos uses AI technology to find "the best ones."

We’re also making it easier to find the photos you’re looking for. Now, you can search your photos by the text that’s in them.

The app also added a new feature to make it easier to find photos. For example, if you were to search for the word "pizza" the app would use computer learning to identify all your photos that have the word or an image of pizza.

Additionally, Google Photos said it understands "that you might not want to revisit all of your memories, so you’ll be able to hide certain people or time periods, and you have the option to turn this feature off entirely."

With memories, users can also share photos directly to friends or family within the app.

Photos can be added to an ongoing, private conversation thread so all the shared photos are in one place that can be easily saved across iOS and Android.

The company also announced a new service to help bring memories off your phone and into your home.

JHVEPhoto/iStock(NEW YORK) -- In an over-saturated digital news age, Google announced new changes to its search algorithm that aim to elevate more "original reporting."

Richard Gringras, the vice president of news at Google, announced the changes in a statement Thursday, saying the updates on the back end will help Google "better recognize original reporting, surface it more prominently in Search and ensure it stays there longer."

He touted it as a benefit to both readers interested in finding "the story that started it all" as well as news organizations that can have their original pieces more widely circulated online.

The move comes at time when the fast-moving world of internet news means long-form investigations and other stories can quickly and easily be picked up and re-reported by a myriad of other online outlets.

"This can make it difficult for users to find the story that kicked everything off," Gingras wrote.

He also acknowledged that Google's efforts will "constantly evolve" as there is no "absolute definition of original reporting, nor is there an absolute standard for establishing how original a given article is."

Google's search algorithm is constantly in the spotlight and has courted controversy in the past for how it ranks news searches.

In August 2018, President Donald Trump attacked Google in a series of tweets, accusing the company of prioritizing "fake news" and saying the results are "rigged" against him. The company denied the allegations, saying the search engine algorithm doesn't include any consideration of politics.

Also on Thursday, fellow tech giant Facebook announced expansions to its tools for local news and information.

twinsterphoto/iStock(WASHINGTON) -- Amid roiling trade tensions, the crowded 2020 Democratic candidate field now finds itself divided on a path forward on the tricky terrain of American trade -- a path made all the more difficult by President Donald Trump's protectionist stance and hardline tone on getting "fair deals" for the U.S.

Complicating matters are the threat of tariffs on some Chinese imports. Late Wednesday, Trump announced on Twitter that he's agreed to delay an increased tariff from Oct. 1 to Oct. 15, "as a gesture of good will."

He said the delay came at the request of the vice premier of China and was because of the country's celebration of its 70th anniversary.

Trump has imposed or announced penalties on about $550 billion in Chinese products. The tariffs of 25% -- which were imposed on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods -- were due to increase to 30% on Oct. 1.

In August, the U.S. also announced a delay with a 10% tariff that was set to be slapped on $300 billion of Chinese imports in September. The "cell phones, laptop computers, video game consoles, certain toys, computer monitors and certain items of footwear and clothing" and other products subject to the delay would still be subject to the tariffs starting Dec. 15, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. The move would likely come as a relief during the holiday shopping season, as economists say the cost of the U.S. tariffs are passed on to American businesses and consumers.

Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, like a number of 2020 candidates, has focused on rural crop communities on his several trips to early voting states such as Iowa. They've positioned themselves as fighting for farmers where Trump's tariffs have hurt the agricultural community.

In an op-ed on CNN timed with his town hall, O'Rourke said Trump's tariffs lead America's trading partners to turn elsewhere -- leaving farmers holding the bag.

Others, such as former Vice President Joe Biden, find themselves in a complicated position on trade.

Biden voted for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and permanent normal trade relations with China. He and O'Rourke also supported former President Barack Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) -- a sweeping multinational trade proposal that included Pacific Rim nations, which a number of unions opposed out of concerns about labor protections and that it would cost the U.S. jobs.

Some rival 2020 campaigns have hammered Biden on this perceived vulnerability.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who opposed NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, attacked Biden's voting record on trade, attempting to draw a sharp contrast between himself and his front-running presidential opponent.

"Joe voted for NAFTA and permanent trade relations, trade agreements with China. I led the effort against that. Joe voted for the deregulation of Wall Street, I voted against that," Sanders told ABC News White House Chief Correspondent Jonathan Karl during an interview on "This Week" in Des Moines, Iowa.

It's not the first time Sanders has spoken out strongly on trade; he has vigorously opposed policies like NAFTA from its inception, calling out his 2016 primary opponent Hillary Clinton for her support of the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

"I was on the picket line in opposition to NAFTA," Sanders said during the New Hampshire primary debate during the last election. "We heard people tell us how many jobs would be created. I didn't believe that for a second."

For the wide swath of Democrats running in 2020, a catch-22 now emerges: the powerful pull to align with Obama in symbolic legacy and the simultaneous need for would-be progressives to distance themselves from the Obama administration's less popular trade agenda.

"I think that back in the time during the Clinton administration, it made sense at the moment," the former vice president said.

She vehemently opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, calling it "a rigged process" producing "a rigged outcome" for 40% of the U.S. economy, urging Congress in 2015 to reject the trade plan that would "tilt the playing field even more in favor of big multinational corporations and against working families."

Warren also opposed the United States Mexico Canada Trade agreement (USMCA), Trump's renegotiated trade deal with Mexico and Canada, calling it "NAFTA 2.0" and voting against the plan in 2018. Stumping in Iowa, her speech has fiercely denounced big agro, calling for the breakup of industry mergers, charging "consolidation is choking family farms."

For those on the front lines, weathering the storm of trade wars and climate change alike, farmers at the center of the conflict will scrutinize candidates' positions and past voting records closely for who will prioritize their interests.

"When we take China off the table for a demand for our products, we suddenly have a huge amount of supply and the price collapses," Matt Russell, a fifth-generation farmer in Iowa, who owns a 110-acre farm of produce, heirloom tomatoes and grass-fed beef told ABC News' Senior Washington Reporter Devin Dwyer. "The biggest thing is the loss of trade. That's the big story."

PictureLake/iStock(NEW YORK) -- During New York Fashion Week, the looks showcased from Tory Burch's spring/summer 2020 show were inspired by Princess Diana's iconic style.

Paying homage to the late royal's stylish '80s aesthetic, Burch mentioned on her blog how she has been fascinated with Diana Spencer since she was young.

"Clearly, she was a style icon, but I loved her fearlessness, her intelligence and, most of all, her humanity," Burch said.

"She left a legacy of giving back that embodies what I admire most, one that has been instilled in our Foundation and company since the beginning. This collection brings together English garden florals, a restrained volume and my own take on the eighties," she continued.

The collection included a huge variety of florals, polka dots, stripes and pearl drop earrings that all echo the fashion of Princess Di re-imagined and ready-to-wear.

RiverNorthPhotography/iStock(NEW YORK) -- GameStop will shutter between 180 to 200 under-performing stores by the end of the year, executives said after the company reported a larger-than-expected decrease in sales.

The video game retailer made the announcement Tuesday in a conference call with analysts. Earlier that day, the company released its earnings report for the second quarter of the year that "admittedly were below what we would want," according to the company’s chief financial officer, Jim Bell.

Total sales were down 14.3% compared to last year’s numbers, according to the fiscal report.

The closures of the stores will happen globally, but Bell did not say what exact locations. GameStop has more than 5,800 stores across 14 countries, according to the company.

A "much larger tranche" of store closures are expected over the next 12 to 24 months, Bell said.

GameStop’s CEO George Sherman said the closures will be "lucrative to the overall business model."

The executives at the company also acknowledged the expectation among consumers for digital access.

Sherman said GameStop launched a new website platform in August that gives users a new buy online and pick up in-store option.

"Optimizing our store base for an increasingly digital world is essential for the future and increasing the profit productivity," Sherman said.

iStock(NEW YORK) -- Leaders from Facebook, Twitter and Google will testify before a Senate committee next week to explore "digital responsibility" when it comes to mass violence and extremism that is spread online.

"In light of recent incidents of mass violence, this hearing will examine the proliferation of extremism online and explore the effectiveness of industry efforts to remove violent content from online platforms," the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation said in a statement.

"Witnesses will discuss how technology companies are working with law enforcement when violent or threatening content is identified and the processes for removal of such content," the committee added.

Facebook's head of global policy management Monika Bickert, Twitter's public policy director Nick Pickles and Google's global director of information policy Derek Slater are scheduled to act as witnesses at the hearing scheduled for Sept. 18.

The tech giants have long courted controversy as lawmakers and the public grapple with their role in the spread of extremism online, especially in the aftermath of some high-profile of violent incidents that were shared on their platforms.

In March, a gunman livestreamed himself during a shooting spree at a Christchurch mosque on Facebook, killing 49 people during the deadliest mass shooting in New Zealand.

In the aftermath, Facebook and Instagram announced they were expanding their bans on white supremacy on their platforms.

The hearing featuring the tech industry representatives facing lawmakers will be livestreamed.

Kameleon007/iStock(NEW YORK) -- Scores of executives from some of the nation's biggest business demanded "urgent action" from lawmakers on "America's gun violence crisis," writing in a letter that the tragedies are "preventable."

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Yelp CEO and co-founder Jeremy Stoppelman and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey were among the 145 business leaders who signed the open letter to the Senate that was first reported by The New York Times.

The letter references the recent back-to-back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, that left more than 30 people dead within just hours. In addition to the harrowing mass shootings, it also references the gun violence that has afflicted communities in Chicago, Gilroy and more, saying, "This is a public health crisis that demands urgent action."

"As leaders of some of America's most respected companies and those with significant business interests in the United States, we are writing to you because we have a responsibility and obligation to stand up for the safety of our employees, customers and all Americans in the communities we serve across the country," the letter said.

It continued: "Doing nothing about America's gun violence crisis is simply unacceptable and it is time to stand with the American public on gun safety."

In terms of action, the correspondence called on the Senate to "pass a bill to require background checks on all gun sales and a strong Red Flag law that would allow courts to issue life-saving extreme risk protection orders."

So-called Red Flag laws, more commonly known as Extreme Risk laws, help prohibit people who have shown a risk of harming themselves or others from having access to a firearm.

This isn't the first time leaders from the private sector have taken a stance on gun violence.

After a string of deadly shootings occurred at Walmart stores between July 30 and Aug. 4, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon announced that the company would discontinue sales of some types of rifle ammunition which can be used with military-style weapons. Walmart will also discontinue handgun ammunition as well as sales of handguns in Alaska.

In the wake of the 2018 Valentine's Day massacre at a high school in Parkland, Florida, the chairman and CEO of Dick's Sporting Goods, who also signed Thursday's open letter, announced that his company was ending sales of assault-style rifles and banning the sale of guns to people under 21. Dick's Sporting Goods also announced it would be destroying inventory of unsold assault-style weapons.

Timberland(NEW YORK) -- Timberland is taking people back to Bikini Bottom with its latest collection of boots and clothing inspired by everyone’s favorite sponge.

The brand, best known for its bulky yellow boots, will launch a limited-edition line on Sept. 13 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants.

The collection consists of men's T-shirts, jackets and hoodies, as well as two pairs of boots for men and kids that even Squidward would like.

One pair’s design is a light blue color, banking on people’s nostalgia with images of SpongeBob and Patrick chasing jellyfish. The other pair, a subtler look, is black and features the unexpectedly stylish sponge’s likeness peeking out on the shoe’s tongue.

The best part is that SpongeBob himself could even sport the shoes. The boots are waterproof.

Both pairs have already sold out on Nordstrom’s website, but Foot Locker has also slated a Sept. 13 release.

This November will mark one year since the death of the cartoon’s creator, Stephen Hillenburg.

Disney Parks (PARIS) -- A new "Frozen"-themed area is coming to Disneyland Paris and details can't hold back anymore.

Guests will be able to "let it go" when the area in Walt Disney Studios Park opens, though Disney is only saying the opening will be "in the coming years" and is part of a multi-year expansion.

"As part of the fully immersive land, guests will see in the distance the snow-capped mountain of Arendelle opposite a magnificent lake, with an attraction that will take them to the center of the Kingdom," Disney said in a media release.

The area will also include character encounters, a new restaurant and a shop.

While guests wait for the highly anticipated area to open, there are two new "Frozen" events to take in.

Frozen Celebration, which includes a includes a new show four times a day on the parade route starring Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Sven, will take place from Jan. 11 to May 3, 2020, and Frozen: A Musical Invitation, where guests will be invited to play and interact with their favorite characters, will open on Nov. 17, 2019.

Riccardo Savi/Getty Images for Concordia Summit(DALLAS) -- T. Boone Pickens, a self-made oil tycoon and venture capitalist from Texas, died on Tuesday at the age of 91, according to his website.

Pickens died of natural causes at his Dallas home with his family by his side, spokesman Jay Rosser told the website.

The longtime Dallas resident and icon was born in Holdenville, Oklahoma. He is survived by five children and 11 grandchildren.

Pickens founded what later became Mesa Petroleum in 1957, and left it in 1996 to form the energy-focused investment firm BP Capital. During this time he gained a reputation for being a fighter for shareholders rights.

He also gained widespread attention for launching a self-funded campaign in July 2008 aimed at reducing America's dependence on OPEC oils, arguing it could threaten the nation's economy and national security. He spent $100 million of his own money on the campaign.

A younger generation may remember him for his famous Twitter clapback to the rapper Drake, who wrote "The first million is the hardest." Pickens wrote back, "The first billion is a helluva lot harder."

Pickens was also a longtime supporter of his alma mater, Oklahoma State University and contributed more than $500 million to the school over the years, according to ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA-TV. The school's football stadium is named after him.

In addition to his generosity towards OSU, Pickens was also a famous philanthropist through his own foundation, the T. Boone Pickens Foundation, which he founded in 2006. His philanthropic impact reached almost $2 billion total through matching initiatives, according to his website.

“Nobody has done what Boone did,” Steve Taylor, retired chief justice of the Oklahoma Supreme Court, said in a statement for Boone's obituary posted on his website. "He wanted to enjoy the fun of giving away money, and seeing what happened with it. Scholarships. Football stadiums. Engineering schools. Hospitals."

"Everyone has been watching California with bated breath because whatever happens here is likely to happen in other blue states, and California now has given every other state a road map for how to make changes to the independent contractor status," Monique Ngo-Bonnici, a labor attorney based in Silicon Valley, told ABC News. "I do think we are going to see a wave of similar legislation all across the country."

Assembly Bill 5 passed through the State Senate late Tuesday with a 29-11 vote. It still must go through the State Assembly and be signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, who's already endorsed the bill in a Sacramento Bee op-ed.

Essentially, the bill requires "a person providing labor or services for remuneration" to "be considered an employee rather than an independent contractor," according to the text of the bill.

"The law has basically made it impossible for Uber and Lyft, at this time, to continue to run their businesses based on an independent contractor-type platform," Ngo-Bonnici explained.

Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, one of the bill's authors, said in a tweet the measure aims to "stop the misclassification of nearly a million misclassified California workers so they are provided a minimum wage, benefits and workplace rights."

Our #AB5 to stop the misclassification of nearly a million misclassified California workers so they are provided a minimum wage, benefits and workplace rights has passed the Senate today with 29 votes. It now heads to the Assembly.

Opponents of the bill argue it could hurt workers' flexibility and industries that rely on their labor.

California State Sen. Andreas Borgeas tweeted prior to the vote that the AB5 would "limit an individual's ability for flexible employment and destroys entire industries across California. Independent contractors and small businesses are the backbone of a thriving California economy."

The California Labor Federation, a union group based in the Golden State, dubbed the passage of AB5 through the State Senate a "historic win for California workers," and said in a statement it's "setting the standard for the rest of the country to follow."

The passage of California's bill through the state Senate comes at an uneasy time for the ride-sharing giants. Uber recently fired hundreds of people from its marketing team amid a restructuring, and Lyft reportedly lost a key executive in late July. Just last month, Uber also reported its largest-ever quarterly loss, $5.2 billion.

Adrian Durbin, a Lyft spokesman, told ABC News in a statement that the California leaders "missed an important opportunity to support the overwhelming majority of ride-share drivers who want a thoughtful solution that balances flexibility with an earnings standard and benefits."

"The fact that there were more than 50 industries carved out of AB5 is very telling. We are fully prepared to take this issue to the voters of California to preserve the freedom and access drivers and riders want and need," the statement added.

Uber did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.

How will this affect employees -- and consumers?

Ngo-Bonnici, chair of the labor & employment groups for the Los Angeles and Silicon Valley offices of the Winston & Strawn firm, told ABC News that while many drivers will see higher wages and more stability, "There are going to be thousands of people who lose their jobs altogether."

"Right now they're independent contractors, but now that this bill has passed, these companies have to convert these independent contractors into employees, but they are not going to convert all of them," she said. "It's going to add about 30 percent more cost per individual."

Those costs will cover benefits for full-time drivers including the ability to apply for unemployment if laid off, being able to earn social security and being able to unionize.

As for how this will impact consumers, Ngo-Bonnici predicts higher wait times for riders.

"Consumers are so used to just clicking a button on your phone and in a few minutes your car is there ... all of that is going to go away," she said. "These companies are not going to have the ability to have just thousands of drivers out on the road just waiting for us."

"The workers may have to be given their schedules weeks in advance," she added, "and that takes away all the flexibility that these drivers have, and it also takes away the flexibility for the consumers."

MoMorad/iStock(NEW YORK) -- When you think of fast food mascots, your first thought probably isn't "OMG, are they single?" A new dating sim, however, might make you reconsider your feelings about Kentucky Fried Chicken's Colonel Sanders.

KFC has jumped on the dating simulator craze with I Love You, Colonel Sanders! A Finger Lickin’ Good Dating Simulator. If this is your first time hearing of the word "dating sim," then imagine a game that has you courting fictional characters through dialogue-heavy story lines.

In KFC's dating sim, you're a cooking student trying to win the heart of your hunky white-haired classmate -- Colonel Sanders. In this game, however, the Colonel appears as a young, tall and muscular anime-styled man with steely blue eyes.

Winning the Colonel's heart won't be so easy. You'll have to outmaneuver rivals and make the right "life-changing decisions" to turn your friendship into a Kentucky Fried romance.

And before you ask if KFC is truly behind this new game, it says so right in the description on the website where you can buy it: "The most finger lickin’ good dating simulator ever created -- a game that KFC actually made."

LauriPatterson/iStock(NEW YORK) -- What's better than spending all day thinking about, writing about and eating tacos?

Getting paid for it.

That's now the privilege of José R. Ralat, a Dallas-based food writer who on Tuesday was named Texas Monthly's first Taco Editor.

"José is one of the foremost experts on tacos in the state and the country," the magazine's executive editor, Kathy Blackwell, wrote in a statement. "We are thrilled to have him join our growing editorial team, and to share with our readers his wealth of knowledge about the amazing variety of foods that can be tucked into a tortilla."

The magazine noted that Ralat has spent 10 years blogging about tacos and previously had written about the prized foodstuff for the magazine.

This is not the magazine's first cuisine-specific position. Rilat's hiring follows the appointment of Daniel Vaughn as the magazine's barbecue editor earlier in the decade.